1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to hats or caps, such as baseball caps, and more particularly to rubber, leather, or other piping that circumscribes at least a part of the perimeter of the bill for such cap.
2. Description of the Related Art
Caps, such as baseball caps, are well known in the art and are often used for recreational purposes. The bowl, crown, or body of the cap provides means by which the head may be covered in order to keep it protected from the sun and the attached bill, brim, or visor stands generally horizontally from the crown in order to provide a shade for the eyes. The baseball cap as a whole is generally made of cloth with optional stiffening material such as cardboard or plastic used to reinforce the bill. The cap may be made in a number of sections and may have a stretchable headband in order to provide elastic engagement for the head of the wearer.
The bill for such caps generally includes a piece of resilient material, such as cardboard or plastic, that is enclosed in cloth or other material to provide a more attractive and uniform appearance, among other things. The entire bill assembly may be stitched to the bowl with its sweatband or headband in order to provide an integrated baseball cap, hat, or other headgear having a bill.
Several attempts have been made previously to complement or augment the bill of a hat, such as a baseball cap. Listed below are several patents and/or publications relevant to the such previous attempts made to achieve such augmentation or decoration:
6,449,7732002/0042941 A16,370,696Des. 452,767Des. 419,2816,243,8776,015,6045,765,229 5,754,983,5,206,0614,964,1714,914,7555,701,6075,553,3274,606,0774,093,6943,869,5352,931,0462,389,388Des. 130,1602,038,8752,088,9301,709,856
U.S. Pat. No. 1,709,856 discloses a hat and method of making, wherein the hat has a rubberized binding strip sewn to the outer edge of the brim as shown in FIG. 8 (element 20) and page 1, line 110 et seq.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,038,875 discloses a hat having a brim with a channel defined along the brims outer edge wherein a rubber tube is retained within the channel by a binding as shown in FIG. 4 (elements 14 and 16) and column 2, lines 25–46.
U.S. Patent No. 2002/0042941 discloses hat decorations that are designed to fit over the edge of a brim of the hat as shown in FIGS. 2 and 4.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,206,061 discloses a headgear having an opening with an edge containing an elastic material disposed along the edge, wherein the elastic material is a rubber string as shown in column 3, lines 3–7.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,391,046 discloses a reinforcement for a cap visor, wherein the reinforcement is a decorative stiffener trim mounted along the visor periphery as shown in column 1, lines 27–49.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,606,077 discloses a visor having a bead around the outer periphery of the bill as shown in column 3, lines 63–65.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,088,930 discloses a hat with a layer of vulcanized rubber on its brim as shown in column 1, line 24 et seq.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,389,388 discloses a device and method for stitching hat brims.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,869,535 discloses a method of embossing synthetic material using rollers.
Several patents disclose headwear having bills or visors made of rubber, including: U.S. Pat. No. 5,754,983, U.S. Pat. No. 5,765,229 (column 2, lines 20–27 and column 5, line 59 et seq.), and U.S. Pat. No. 4,964,171 (column 2, lines 42–44).
Some patents disclose headwear having indicia on the bill, including: U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,243,877, 4,914,755, 5,701,607, 6,370,696, 6,449,773, and 5,553,327.
Some patents disclose a method for embossing indicia onto rubber, including: U.S. Pat. No. 4,093,694 (abstract) and U.S. Pat. No. 6,015,604 (column 4, lines 17–28).
Also, attempts have been made in the art to provide ornamentation for caps and hats as reflected by U.S. Design Pat. Nos.: Des. 419,281, Des. 452,767, and Des. 130,160.
Baseball caps and the like are often used for convenience and often indicate some disposition, mood, or opinion of the wearer. To this extent, baseball caps are decorated with indicia, logos, and the like. This is particularly true with baseball caps for baseball teams and also include corporate hats that may have corporate logos on them.
Consequently, there is a significant interest in means by which hats or caps can be decorated in an attractive and interesting manner. It would be an advance in the art to provide new means by which such decorations could be achieved in order to provide baseball hats or other hats with bills that are more attractive, more desirable, and fun to wear.